1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing an electrolessly plated molded article in which electroless plating is applied to a molded article of a thermoplastic resin composition made of a thermoplastic resin having a high hardness and an inorganic filler, and a polyarylene sulfide resin composition for the electrolessly plated molded article. More specifically, it relates to a process for producing an electrolessly plated molded article which dispenses with chemical etching treatment upon polishing the surface of the hard molded article by a specific blast method, and a polyarylene sulfide resin composition which can preferably be used in this process.
2. Description of the Related Art
The plating of plastics has been applied to engineering plastics such as nylons, polyacetals, modified PPE, polycarbonates, modified PPE/nylon and ABS/polycarbonate since it was developed concerning an ABS resin. The plating process, namely, an electroless plating process comprises steps of degreasing, etching, neutralization, catalyst coating, activation and electroless plating. Of these, especially the etching is an important step for roughening a surface of a molded article and securing a plate adhesion by an anchoring effect.
However, in the etching step and the neutralization step, a mixed acid of chromic acid and sulfuric acid is used as an etching agent in an ABS resin, and chemicals of strong acid and strong alkali are used in other resins. Accordingly, the measures taken to the safe environmental equipment and the quality control in the steps have been serious problems. For example, in case of a thermoplastic resin having a high hardness and a strong chemical resistance, such as a polyarylene sulfide, the usual etching is difficult, and an etching treatment in which glass fibers as the filler are raised on the surface through blast polishing and then eluted with hydrofluoric acid has been required.
Accordingly, a simple method that replaces the ordinary chemical etching treatment has been in demand.
The invention aims to provide a process for producing an electrolessly plated molded article in which electroless plating with a great adhesion strength can be applied to a molded article of a thermoplastic resin composition made of a thermoplastic resin having a high hardness and an inorganic filler without conducting chemical etching treatment, and a polyarylene sulfide resin composition for the electrolessly plated molded article.